This time last year when De Gea was making mistakes I was fully behind him. However its clear at this point, whatever the cause of these mistakes is, it’s not going away just by giving him more games to play.
De Gea’s problem is that he was only ever ‘good’ at things other than shot stopping and one on ones. In terms of distribution, taking crosses, communicating with his defence, he wasnt a liability, but other keepers have been as good. It was his ability to make truly breathtaking saves week after week that made him stood out. But of course if you take that away, what’s left is just an ordinary goalkeeper. If he becomes a liability at shot stopping, then there’s not much to left to justify him being in the team.
Personally I would bring in Henderson next season. Henderson's YouTube reel is nothing compared to De Gea’s. His saves are good, occasionally great, but no better than any other decent keeper. But his all round game is much more solid than De Gea’s and in particular his communication is stronger, which i think we really need with our defence. We may let in the odd goal that De Gea might have saved (in his prime at least) but I think he’ll make the defence overall much more cohesive, and will probably make fewer high profile errors to boot.
It also keeps with the ethos at the club now, which is to take painful but ruthless to decisions now in order to build a stronger team for the future. Benching De Gea (assuming he couldn’t be sold with his salary level being what it is) would be a bit of a circus next year, but short term troubles didn’t stop us getting rid of Lukaku, Herrera, Fellaini, Smalling etc. Ole rightly figured that it was better to go with a younger player who would eventually be better, even if it meant inconsistency in the short term. Same is true here, better to get Henderson in now, even if he’s a bit inconsistent at first.